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Friday, October 30, 2015

Before England's King George IV
became prince regent (a title more identifiable with him than his eventual
monarchy) at age 48 in 1811, he had taken two wives--and neither of the
marriages were ever dissolved and neither woman ever truly shared his reign.

How can he have legally had two
wives? He didn't. One of his wives was illegal. As a young man of 21, he fell
madly in love with Maria Fitzherbert, a wealthy and beautiful widow six years
his senior. The fact that she was a Catholic was not the only obstacle in their
path of matrimonial harmony. There was also the Royal Marriage Act prohibiting
any member of the royal family from marrying without the king's permission. As
an act of Parliament, the Royal Marriage Act superseded any law of church; to
violate it would be a crime.

Maria Fitzherbert, the Prince Regent (later George IV)

For over a year the Prince of Wales
courted Mrs. Fitzherbert and even resorted to a botched suicide attempt to gain
her hand. Eventually she relented, and in 1785 they were secretly wed by an
Anglican minister and fancied themselves married. But cognizant of the criminal
act they had committed, the two never publicly acknowledged the marriage, nor
did they ever live in the same residence. The prince was willing to let his
brother Freddie (the Duke of York) sire children who would be heirs to the
throne, and he planned to do away with the Royal Marriage Act when he became
king. (Freddie, by the way, never had any children.)

Troubles precipitated by Mrs.
Fitzherbert's hot temper, the prince's wandering eye, and--most of all--his
vast debts sent the marriage into the skids less than a decade later. Prinny
had decided to take Brunswick's Princess Caroline for his wife, an action that
would increase his annual income and clear his exorbitant debts.

Caroline of Brunswick, later Princess Caroline

Though he had never met Caroline, a
first cousin, the prince married her in 1795. He took such an instant dislike
to her slovenly appearance he had to get himself excessively drunk in order to
beget a child on her (Princess Charlotte, who died in childbirth in 1817). With
that duty dispatched, he turned his back on his true wife, and they lived apart
for the remainder of their lives.

Five years after his
"legal" marriage, the prince persuaded Mrs. Fitzherbert to return to
him. They stayed affectionate for almost a decade, parting ways because of his
infidelity the year before he became regent.

Caroline died shortly after his
coronation as King George IV, but he never remarried, and when he died ten
years later in 1830 he wore about his neck a miniature portrait of Mrs.
Fitzherbert. –Cheryl Bolen's
newest release is the first in the Brazen Brides series, Counterfeit Countess. Fans of her Regent Mysteries
can preorder the newest installment, An Egyptian Affair, only on iBooks.

Friday, October 16, 2015

While doing the research for Rogue Knight, my new medieval set in 11th century
England, I learned a lot about the herbs they grew in gardens or were found in the wild. They
were, after all, the only medicine they had. So they used herbs and plants,
individually or together, in
infusions, teas, salves and other forms to treat their various illnesses and
maladies.

Long before the Normans came to England, the Anglo-Saxons
used herbs and plants of all kinds in remedies for things like headaches,
fever, stomach ailments, pain and respiratory illnesses. Winter
was especially hard on medieval society, as cold, drafty dwellings led to
numerous cases of deadly pneumonia.

The earliest
surviving texts that speak of herbal remedies in Old English are from the 9th
century, but there is evidence that older texts were not all in Latin. Bald’s Leechbook and Lacnunga are among the most complete texts.

Leechbook

The Leechbook
is an Anglo-Saxon medical manual made up of three books (labeled I, II and
III), probably compiled in the early tenth century. It contains some of the best Mediterranean medicine from
the third to the ninth centuries, so apparently they shared information. While
some of the herbs mentioned in the texts were only available around the
Mediterranean, some were traded from distant areas, such as frankincense, pepper,
silk, ginger and myrrh.

With the
Norman Conquest, many Anglo-Saxon texts were destroyed and replaced with books
written in Latin. Greek and Roman writings on medicine
were preserved by hand copying of manuscripts in monasteries.

The monasteries thus tended to become
local centers of medical knowledge, and their herb gardens provided the raw
materials for simple treatment of common disorders. At the same time, folk
medicine practiced in the home as well as the village supported numerous
wandering and settled herbalists.

Some
herbs and their uses:

Lemon
Balm: Usedin a drink as an aid against melancholy.

Borage:It
was associated with courage: "I, Borage, Bring Courage."

Chickweed:Used
to treat constipation, upset stomach and to promote digestion, also used to
treat asthma and other respiratory problems such as colds. It can be used on
wounds as well.

Horehound: syrups and
drinks for chest and head colds and coughs.

Lemon
Balm: Usedin a drink as an aid against melancholy.

Borage:It
was associated with courage: "I, Borage, Bring Courage."

Chickweed:Used
to treat constipation, upset stomach and to promote digestion, also used to
treat asthma and other respiratory problems such as colds. It can be used on
wounds as well.

Horehound: syrups and
drinks for chest and head colds and coughs.

Marjoram: Used in cooking, in spiced wine, in brewing beer and in
medicines to treat the stomach.

Marjoram

Mint: Mint vinegar was used as a
mouthwash; mint sauce restored the appetite. Also used for stomach ailments, in
treating fevers and wounds.

Mugwort: A charm for travellers and used
in foot ointments; also used in treating women's ailments.

Nettles: Eating
nettles mixed with the white of an egg cured insomnia. And nettles were used in
salves. Bald’s Leechbook contains a recipe for a nettle-based
ointment for muscular pain.

Rosemary. The flowers, boiled in tea, were
an all-purpose medicine. Putting the leaves under your pillow supposedly guarded
against nightmares. The ashes of the wood were used for cleaning teeth. Brides
and grooms exchanged rosemary wreaths instead of rings; rosemary was also
planted or strewn on graves. Rosemary was burned as an incense to kill or
prevent infection, including the plague.

Rue: a sour-smelling perennial called
“the herb of grace” because it was used as a holy water sprinkler. Also used to
treat venomous bites, and poor eyesight.

Sage: The leaves were used in salads
and green sauces and as a spring tonic.

St.
John’s Wort: Most effective for
curing fever if found by accident, especially on Midsummer's Eve.

Thyme. In addition to its use as a
seasoning, it was burned as a fumigate against infection. Supposedly ladies
embroidered a thyme sprig in flower, along with a bee, on favors for their
favorite knights.

Yarrow: Used to treat headaches and
wounds, especially battle wounds, and the bite of mad dogs. The wound treatment
caused it to be associated with knights.

Willow
bark: Willow bark and
slippery elm, boiled, were used as a tea (sometimes with honey to make it more
palatable) for fever and aches.

Some of the Flowers:

While not herbs, these flowers were used to
treat ills, and the medieval folks also ate flowers.

Calendula, also marygolde
or Mary’s Gold: Flower petals were
used in broths and tonics, and in treatments to strengthen the heart. And they
made nice garden borders and keep away pests.

Chamomile: Used for headaches. Helps to settle
the stomach and soothe the nerves, which may be why it was used in fevers.

Lavender. Used in food, and in refreshing
washes for headaches. It was also used extensively in soaps and baths, as a
personal scent and as a moth repellent.

Linden: In tea, used for insomnia disorders and anxiety. Also used for stomach disorders and diarrhea.

Roses: there were wild roses, of
course. Their petals and the distilled water made from them were widely used in
food as well as for scent, and added to medical preparations to strengthen the
patient generally and to bronchial infections, colds, diarrhea and anxiety.

Do you have a favorite herb you
use today to treat some ailment? Comment for a chance to win book 1 in my
medieval series, The Red Wolf’s Prize.
And don’t forget to check out my newest medieval:Rogue Knight,

York, England 1069… three years
after the Norman Conquest

The
North of England seethes with discontent under the heavy hand of William the
Conqueror, who unleashes his fury on the rebels who dare to defy him. Amid the
ensuing devastation, love blooms in the heart of a gallant Norman knight for a
Yorkshire widow.

A LOVE NEITHER CAN DENY, A
PASSION NEITHER CAN RESIST

Angry
at the cruelty she has witnessed at the Normans’ hands, Emma of York is torn
between her loyalty to her noble Danish father, a leader of the rebels, and her
growing passion for an honorable French knight.

Loyal
to King William, Sir Geoffroi de Tournai has no idea Emma hides a secret that
could mean death for him and his fellow knights.

WAR DREW THEM TOGETHER, WAR
WOULD TEAR THEM APART

War
erupts, tearing asunder the tentative love growing between them, leaving each
the enemy of the other. Will Sir Geoffroi, convinced Emma has betrayed him,
defy his king to save her?

Excerpt…
the first meeting of Sir Geoffroi and Emma
of York… a bit ominous, perhaps, but remember, it led to love.

Dear
God.

She crossed herself and covered
her mouth, fighting the urge to spew at the sight of so much blood and so many
bodies strewn about the clearing, blood congealed on their clothing, their
vacant eyes staring into space. Some of the blood had pooled on the ground to catch
the rays of the sun. The metallic scent of it, carried by the wind, rose in her
nostrils.

At her side, the hound
whimpered.

So
many.

Until the Normans had come,
Yorkshire had been a place of gentle hills, forests and thatched cottages
circling a glistening jewel of a city set between two winding rivers. A place
of children’s voices at play, some of those voices now silenced forever, for
among the bodies lying on the cold ground were mere boys, their corpses cast
aside like broken playthings.

At the sound of heavy footfalls
on the snow-crusted ground, she jerked her head around, her heart pounding in
her chest.

A figure emerged from the trees,
so close she could have touched him.

She cringed. A Norman.

A tall giant of a knight, his
blood-splattered mail a dull gray in the weak winter sun, ripped off his
silvered helm and expelled an oath as he surveyed the dozens of dead. The sword
in his hand still dripped the blood of those he had slain. He was no youth this
one, at least thirty. His fair appearance made her think of Lucifer, the fallen
angel of light. A seasoned warrior of
death who has taken many lives.

Had he killed people she knew?
Her heart raced as fear rose in her chest.

Regan Walker is a #1 bestselling,
multi-published author of Regency, Georgian and Medieval romance. She has been
a featured author on USA TODAY's HEA blog three times and twice nominated for
the prestigious RONE award (her novel, The Red Wolf's Prize is a finalist for
2015). Regan Walker writes historically authentic novels with real history and
real historic figures. She wants her readers to experience history, adventure and
love.

Her work as a lawyer
in private practice and then serving at high levels of government have given her
a love of international travel and a feel for the demands of the “Crown”. Hence
her romance novels
often involve a demanding sovereign who taps his
subjects for “special assignments.”

Regan lives in San
Diego with her golden retriever, Link, who she says inspires her every day to
relax and smell the roses.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Today
we buy our cleaning goods and our remedies in ready-made bottles and cans and
boxes.Prior to the era of mass
manufacturing, which started after the Regency, all these items were manufactured
in the household.This stands out at
once in the household books from the late 1700's and early 1800's.

The
variety of 'tips' is astonishing, covering everything from cookery for the
sick, to making pomades, to how to blacken fire grates and clean marble, to how
to keep the rot off sheep.("Keep
them in pens till the dew is off the grass," advises Mrs. Rundell in her book, Domestic Cookery.)

Some
directions are quite straightforward.To
keep a door from squeaking, "Rub a bit of soap on the hinges."Other directions can list either products not
readily available today, such as the orris-root and storax listed in a recipe
for pot pourri, or the spermaceti to be used to make ointment for chapped
lips.Also, amounts are often
inexact.For chapped lip, "twopenny-worth
of alkanet-root" is also required--probably a small amount, unless
alkanet-room came very, very cheep.

Amounts
are often listed as handfuls, as in the rue, sage, mint, rosemary, wormwood and
lavender for a "recipt against the plague" given by Hanna Glasse in The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy.She also offers not one, but two certain cures for the "bite of a
mad dog, one of which is both given to the "man or beast" bitten as
well as recommending to be bound into the wound.

Within
the household, items would be made for beauty as well as practicality.Recipes are given for Hungary Water (early
cologne), which took a month to actually make.There is also Lavender Water, a recipe to prevent hair from falling out
and thicken it which includes using honey and rosemary tops, a paste for
chapped hands, and pomades for the hair.

The
time spent on these recipes could be considerable.To make black ink with rain water, bruised
blue galls, brandy and a few other items meant stirring the concoction every
day for three weeks.Other recipes, such
as Shank Jelly for an invalid, requires lamb to be left salted for four hours,
then brushed with herbs and then simmered for five hours.Time passed differently in the Regency era.

Sick
cookery is an item of importance, from recipes for heart burn to how to make
"Dr. Ratcliff's restorative Pork Jelly."Coffee milk is recommended for invalids as is
asses' milk, milk porridge, saloop (water, wine, lemon-peel and sugar),
chocolate, barley water, and baked soup.

An
interesting distinction is made in that recipes pertaining to personal
appearance and sick-cookery address the reader--and owner of the book.However, recipes for household cleaning and
those not related to a person--such as how to mend china--are listed under
"Directions to Servants."This
shows clearly the distinction that the mistress of the house also acted as
mistress of the still room, tending to the really important matters, and
leaving the heavy work to her staff. Which kind of makes you long for those days--and the budget to have a staff.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Throughout most of history, travelling, especially long distance, was a dangerous undertaking. Some of the many dangers a traveler in Regency England faced included highwaymen attacks, most of which only resulted in loss of valuables but often injury and death as well. To offset this risk, the wealthy generally had armed outriders who rode horseback in front and behind the carriage to guard and protect them but not everyone could afford that and sometimes highway men attacked in alarming numbers.

Travelers also faced broken down carriages which caused delays and inconveniences and injuries, especially if their coach traveled at high speeds at the time of the malfunction. In addition, weather accounted for difficulty and danger. There are accounts of passengers riding on the top of a mail coach arriving frozen to death. But by far the most dangerous part of travel came from carriage accidents.

Now, don't roll your eyes. I've heard readers complain that it's too easy to kill off a character by arranging a convenient carriage accident so that they have become cliché. However, as cliché as it may seem, carriage accidents were every bit as common as car accidents are today. And since I've been in seven car accidents, either as a passenger or as a driver, ranging from minor fender benders to car-totaling collisions, and several people I love have suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of car accidents, I'm painfully aware how frequently that happens.

Just as there are many reasons for car accidents today, carriage accidents could be caused by any number of difficulties. Traveling at high speeds increased the likelihood of a major wipe out. (No, that’s not a Regency term J High-perched carriages such as the High-flyer phaeton were top heavy and easily overturned, especially in the hands of an unskilled driver. But carriages in general were subject to all kinds of problems and breakdowns. Maintenance was up to the coachman, but if he wasn’t especially diligent, there were any number of parts to a carriage that could break and cause accidents.

Roads were another cause of difficulty. They were poorly maintained, often muddy, rutted, narrow and windy. They were also snowy or icy. Toll roads usually fared better, but not always. Also, the horses themselves could throw a shoe or stumble over a rut or uneven ground which posed a threat to the carriage.

Other drivers were some of the greatest perils on the roads. There were no speed limits, and no driver’s licenses, and driving while intoxicated wasn’t policed. Drunk drivers or young dare devils careening around bends caused an alarming number of accidents. And since there were no seat belts or crash safety engineering, passengers could be thrown around or crushed or ejected.

It paints a terrifying picture, doesn’t it? The next time you read a book where the heroine’s parents died in a carriage accident, remember that they were an alarmingly common and therefore very realistic form of premature death. Instead of rolling your eyes and uttering the dreaded C word, nod sagely and applaud the author’s realism.

Welcome to Historical Hussies

Welcome to our blog for readers and writers--or anyone, really, who loves history! Donna Hatch, Shannon Donnelly, Cheryl Bolen, Beppie Harrison, Jenna Jaxon, and Katherine Bone are historical romance authors. Very well, we confess; we're historical nerds! We are fascinated with ancient wedding traditions, Irish food, Roman Warfare, Regency Clothing, Scottish swords--you get the idea. Watch our blog for informative tidbits that just might figure in your next manuscript or deepen your appreciation for the next book you read, or even give you some useless trivia to spout at a party when you can't think of a thing to say.We welcome comments and followers, so chime in and enjoy the group!